The Women of Qumar
U.N. TREATY BANNING PROSTITUTION INCITES SHARP DEBATE; MAD COW DISEASE POSES UGLY THREAT -- At the First Lady's (Stockard Channing) urging, Josh (Bradley Whitford) meets with a powerful women's caucus over the proposed language of a U.N. treaty banning prostitution while the President (Martin Sheen) grapples with the possibility of a Mad Cow epidemic and ponders how much the public should know. Meanwhile, staffers are stunned at C.J.'s (Allison Janney) emotional outburst concerning the administration's renewal of its air base lease in a Mideast country that abuses its women. Some World War II veterans come to the White House to protest a pending Pearl Harbor exhibit at the Smithsonian and Bartlet is sued by an angry woman who intends to raise a public fuss over his remarks regarding the hot-potato issue of a national seat belt law. Summary Cast :Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn :Stockard Channing as Abigail Bartlet :Dulé Hill as Charlie Young :Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg :Janel Moloney as Donna Moss :Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler :John Spencer as Leo McGarry :Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman :and Martin Sheen as President Bartlet Special Guest Star :Mary-Louise Parker as Amy Gardner Recurring cast :Anna Deavere Smith as Nancy McNally Guest Starring :Christian Clemenson as Evan Woodkirk :Dinah Lenney as Mary Klein :Ty Burrell as Tom Starks :Bradley White as James :Bruce Kirby as Barney Lang :Sid Conrad as Ed Ramsay :Bill Erwin as Ronald Kruckshank Co-Starring :Kim Webster as Ginger :Melissa Fitzgerald as Carol Fitzpatrick :Peter James Smith as Ed :William Duffy as Larry :Fort Atkinson as Frank Grant :Michael Canavan as Flynn :James Hornbeck as Dr. Bedrosian :Stan Sellers as Dr. Califf :Randolph Brooks as Arthur Leeds :Kris Murphy as Katie Witt :Timothy Davis-Reed as Mark O'Donnell :Elizabeth Liang as Staffer :Larry Cox as Aide :Dean White as Aide :Kim Sykes as Secretary Quotes :Sam Seaborn: Let's come out for a National Seatbelt Law :Leo McGarry: A National Seatbelt Law is never going to happen :Sam Seaborn: Why? :Leo McGarry: What's the most important state in the primaries? :Sam Seaborn: New Hampshire :Leo McGarry: What's the most important state in the general? :Sam Seaborn: Michigan :Leo McGarry: What's the only state without a mandatory seatbelt law? :Sam Seaborn: 'New Hampshire :'Leo McGarry: ' Where do they make the cars? :'Sam Seaborn: Fair enough. :C.J. Cregg: What I meant was, that the public will not forgive a President who withheld information that could have helped them or saved lives. Second, in a crisis, people need to feel like soldiers, not victims. Third, information breeds confidence, silence breeds fear. That's my argument. : :C.J. Cregg: It’s the 21st century Nancy, the world’s gotten smaller. I don’t know how we can tolerate this kind of suffering anymore particularly when all it does is continue the cycle of anti-American hatred. But that’s not the point either. :Dr. Nancy McNally: What’s the point? :C.J. Cregg: The point is that apartheid was an East Hampton clambake compared to what we laughingly refer to the life these women lead. And if we had sold M1A1’s to South Africa 15 years ago, you’d have set the building on fire. Thank God we never needed to refuel in Johannesburg! :Dr. Nancy McNally: It’s a big world, CJ. And everybody has guns. And I’m doing the best I can. :C.J. Cregg: They’re beating the women, Nancy! Trivia Sam and Toby, at least one of whom is a lawyer, say that the President is being sued for "contributory negligence" because someone heard him talk about seatbelts not always being fastened and then drove without a seatbelt. The apparent theory is that the President "contributed" to the person's negligence by suggesting seatbelts did not help (even under this theory, the person had to misunderstand the President). While this sounds like a reasonable use of the term, it is not, and no lawyer would say such a thing. Contributory negligence is actually an affirmative defense, meaning that it can be raised to help a defendant when someone else sues them; it is not a reason to start a suit against somebody. It is a common law doctrine (not written down as a statute) that says if the plaintiff's negligence contributed to his own injury, then he cannot recover from a defendant, even where the defendant's negligence was the principal cause of the injury. Imagine that Josh was test-driving a giant Hummer SUV, driving 20 miles over the speed limit, curving back and forth across the road. Donna was driving her Prius toward Josh, driving below the speed limit in a perfectly straight line. She and Josh collided when he crossed the center line, but at that time she was looking away from the road toward her pocketbook to pull out her ringing cell phone. Of course Donna would want to sue Josh, but she would be barred from recovery under a theory of contributory negligence because her negligence in looking away from the road to get her phone contributed to the accident, even though most of the fault lies with Josh. That result angers many people, and in fact, because the doctrine is so harsh, many states no longer recognize the defense of contributory negligence or have created so many exceptions that it is no longer quite so harsh. Contributory negligence might come up in the President's case, but it would be his defense against the claim Sam is concerned about. The President might argue that even if he bore fault for the accident, he has no legal liability because the contributory negligence of the driver who chose not to wear a seatbelt defeats any liability on the part of the President. For more information, see Law.com's dictionary entry for contributory negligence. Category:Episodes Category:Season 3